


Look at Me

by Ysabetwordsmith



Series: Polychrome Heroics [1]
Category: Polychrome Heroics
Genre: F/M, Superpowers, Teen Angst, Teen Romance, Teenagers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-18
Updated: 2014-11-18
Packaged: 2018-02-26 05:20:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 343
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2639615
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ysabetwordsmith/pseuds/Ysabetwordsmith
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Antimatter kidnaps Stalwart Stan's girlfriend to get attention.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Look at Me

**Author's Note:**

> This poem belongs to the Antimatter and Stalwart Stan thread of the [Polychrome Heroics](http://penultimateproductions.weebly.com/polychrome-heroics.html) setting.

The field trip to Lexington, Nebraska  
to see the site of the Plum Creek Massacre  
went pretty well until Antimatter  
kidnapped Stalwart Stan's girlfriend.

Antimatter tossed Angelica  
over his skinny shoulder  
as if she weighed nothing,  
and trotted away into the brush.

Stalwart Stan tried to run after them  
but the air around him thickened until  
it was like trying to swim through molasses.

By the time the effect faded, both  
supervillain and girlfriend were out of sight.

Stalwart Stan refused to give up  
on Angelica, searching for her  
high and low, near and far.

He looked in the ditches  
and up the flagpoles,  
all around the cemetery  
and the surrounding fields,  
shooing away the girls eyeing him.

Finally Stalwart Stan found  
Angelica tied up (perfectly unharmed)  
high in a tree, with Antimatter  
standing beside her on the branch,  
grinning down at him.

"Look at me!" Antimatter said  
as he waved at Stalwart Stan.

He looked a bit ridiculous  
in his white costume and black lab coat,  
his silver hair fluttering around his shoulders.

Stalwart Stan reminded himself  
firmly of Thumper's Rule  
and kept his mouth shut about that.

"This is more fun than those capture-the-flag  
games that my cousins never wanted  
to let me play," the supervillain said.

"Let her go," Stalwart Stan said  
as he started climbing the tall tree.

"Come and get her," Antimatter said,  
bouncing lightly on the branch.

Stalwart Stan really, really  
wanted to punch him in the face.

Antimatter waited until he was  
almost within reach before  
trapping him like a fly in amber.  
"Look at me," he said intensely.

Stalwart Stan could still  
close his eyes, so he did.

Antimatter huffed at him,  
"Well, you're no fun at all."

Then he scampered away,  
leaving Stalwart Stan  
to untie Angelica and lower her  
carefully back to the ground.

"I saw you with those other girls," she said.  
"I only have eyes for you," he assured her.

The ride home was uneventful, but  
something about the incident niggled at him,  
and Stalwart Stan could not pin it down.

**Author's Note:**

> The [Plum Creek Massacre](http://lexch.com/news/local/the-plum-creek-massacre-and-the-plum-creek-cemetery/article_92067f8f-1307-5824-86dd-0b9f9f4f9b63.html) happened near [Lexington, Nebraska](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lexington,_Nebraska), one of [several battles fought in that state](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_battles_fought_in_Nebraska) and the [north plains](http://www.forttours.com/images/northplains.jpg). See some [images of the cemetery](http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~nephelps/plum.html).
> 
> [Attention-seeking behavior](http://www.2knowmyself.com/Attention_seeker_psychology/attention_seeking_behaviour_personality) can come from [neglect or abuse](http://www.dshs.wa.gov/ca/fosterparents/training/chidev/cd05a.htm). It's also [associated with bullying](http://www.bullyonline.org/workbully/attent.htm). There are ways to [help troubled teens](http://www.helpguide.org/mental/troubled-teens.htm) and to [discourage inappropriate means of seeking attention](http://www.mommyshorts.com/2011/06/early-development-attention-seeking-behavior-in-children.html).
> 
> [Kidnapping often appears in entertainment](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/AbductionIsLove), which can inspire young people to mimic it in play. This really is play, since Antimatter neither intends to keep nor to harm Angelica, but it's nonconsensual and he's taking it entirely too far.  Despite the description in the trope, though, it isn't Angelica's attention that Antimatter wants.  There are ways to [thwart an abduction attempt](http://www.wikihow.com/Thwart-an-Abduction-Attempt). 
> 
> [Thumper's Rule](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thumper_\(Bambi\)#Film_appearances) as introduced in Bambi is, "[If you can't say something nice, don't say nothin' at all](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wui-PNqJrxs)."
> 
> [Capture the Flag](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capture_the_flag) is a popular game in which two teams compete to [find and control an object](http://www.wikihow.com/Play-Capture-the-Flag). Sometimes kids do use a person as the "flag" but it's not a great idea.

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Always On Duty](https://archiveofourown.org/works/2636621) by [stardreamer](https://archiveofourown.org/users/stardreamer/pseuds/stardreamer)




End file.
